Showing Character Emotion

Leilani was frightened.

Austin looked about nervously.

Willow’s face was drawn into an angry scowl.

(insert unhappy readers’ dramatic sighs here)

In the classic struggle to “show” rather than “tell,” emotions are an easy place to fall into “telling,” as each of the statements above demonstrate.

How do you show your readers what your characters are feeling? In some respects, you need to become a serious student of human nature. What kinds of body language tell you when your partner is angry, when your child is lying, when your co-worker is uncertain, or when your boss is about to get demanding? A slight tic next to the eye, a hand clenching repeatedly at one’s side, an emotionless face…